BA Vets - How Have Your Beer Style Preferences Changed Over Time?

Based upon my readings it seems fairly common for BAs to ‘evolve’ as regards the beers style they prefer to drink at a given time.

My beer journey is a bit different in that I enjoy drinking a variety of beer styles.

To the best of my memory my first US craft beer was Stoudts Gold sometime in the late 1980’s. That beer was of the style Munich Helles. I enjoyed drinking that beer then and I still enjoy drinking that specific beer and others of that style. This past week I drank my last can of Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager from a recently purchased 6-pack. These beers are very tasty when fresh!!

Over the years I experienced new styles. Hoppy beers like APAs (e.g., Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), IPAs (e.g., Victory Hop Devil), etc. and I enjoyed drinking these beers too. On a business trips to Belgium (Brussels) I discovered Belgian Ales and I enjoyed them too. I frequently traveled to the UK (London, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh,…) and I fell in love with casks ales of various styles but Bitter Ales was my favorite. I started homebrewing in the 90’s so I could make my own Bitter Ales (and I have been brewing them since; I brewed a batch of Bitter Ale last evening). And then I discovered …

All throughout this journey I never stopped drinking the styles that I discovered in the past. I just had more styles that I liked and more diversity of choices for both homebrewing and purchasing commercial beers.

The one style that I am style trying to appreciate is sours. I enjoy drinking sours that are low-moderately sour (e.g., Gose, Berliner Weisse, …) but the sours that remove the enamel from my teeth do not suit my palate (as of today).

Cheers!

 

My preferences have not changed. It's more like they have expanded to include more styles. Of course when I started drinking craft in the early 80's you drank what ever you could get and did not worry about it it was an ale or a lager. It was just better.

 

I started out a big fan of Russian Imperial Stouts and even listed it as my favorite style. Now, my flavor preferences have changed and I seldom drink RIS, opting instead for stouts such as Descutes Obsidian and Yards Love Stout.

My current choice of a single favorite style is the German style Pilsener and it's range of different examples with different flavor profiles, but all having great complexity. It also doesn't hurt that I live in an area of PA where there are several locally brewed Pilseners that are of very high quality and so easily found fresh and in quantity. It is also helpful that the general area of SE PA consumes lots of fresh beer so we can often get kegs of imported Pilseners and the bottles are often fairly fresh as well.

 

So far there has been three posts (including mine) of a beer journey of 'expansion' vs. changing/evolving.

Frankly, I was not expecting that.

Things that make you go Hmm?

Cheers!

 

Tom, in contrast I have a case of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, a half case of Victory Storm King, and a half-dozen bombers of Stone IRS beers in my cellar. I loved this style in the past and needless to say I still do!!

Amen to that!!

I recently finished up a 6-pack of Double Nickel Pilsner and I have half of my Troegs Sunshine Pils 12 pack in the fridge.

Cheers to PA (and NJ) Pilsners!!!!!

 

Oh, I haven't given up on the RIS entirely. For example, I have some of the Black Chocolate Stout maturing in the basement. But I no longer drink RIS almost nightly and almost to the exclusion of other things. Rather the RIS has become an occasional treat and I'm much more likely, when I can find it, to have the Obsidian ready to hand in the fridge.

 

I have had favorite beers but never a favorite style.

 

More like cycle.

You will eventually get tied of IPA or RIS and move on to something else.

The only constant is my love of Saison and Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

 

I have been drinking craft beer since the 80's and homebrewing since the 90's - this hasn't happened to me yet and I am figuring that if after 3-4 decades this hasn't occurred this is not likely to occur for me.

Cheers!

 

My first "micro/craft" beers were Kulmbacher Monkshof sp.?, Anchor Porter and Anchor Steam in the 1980s. I was good with a variety of styles from the beginning and I'm still good with a variety. The increasing popularity of craft beers allowed me to experience good examples in a wider variety of styles which just further increased the beer styles I like. My only "Get off my yard" peeve is a common acceptance that aggressive roastiness in a Porter or stout is a fault/defect in a beer. Black patent malt is not a crime..............

 

I don't think I count as a veteran BA user, but I do qualify for the "years" part. My preferences have definitely changed. I use to try to drink saison and sour all the time and would easily drink imp stout nightly. Imp stout is rare now, and so are sours and saisons. I drink IPA pretty regularly but purchase a lot more of beers which are just easy drinkers. So certain lagers, mild ales, brown pilseners, hefs, and what not are consuming more of my budget.

 

I started drinking craft about 8 years ago and really liked brown ales and stouts. It took a little longer to fall in love with IPAs and saisons. Sours were love at first taste, but I never even tried one until about 3 years ago. I'm still trying to fully appreciate barleywines. Overall I still love pretty much every style, but I would say IPAs and sours are currently my most consumed.

 

The only thing that has changed for me is my longing for the beer I used to drink, some of which I can't get here now. I have no interest in contemporary 'styles' or these fancy new hop varieties. I'm only really interested in the beers I was drinking years ago. I do try new beers, but I always end up wanting Aventinus, Bigfoot, La Trappe Quadrupel, Orval and so on...Nothing new seems to come close to these classics.

 

I am curious. What are the 'old time' beers that are no longer available to you?

Cheers!

 

Barrel aged vets

 

I hear ya! I'm old too!

 

Ahhh, a chance to reminisce.

Started in the 1970's mostly with Budweiser, transitioned to imports, mostly from Germany and Canada.

1980's, went back to Budweiser as I was moving my way across the country.

Stopped drinking altogether for a while ( a much needed reset ).

Early 1990's I was back to Budweiser. Mid 1990 I was discovering micro breweries, mostly small local batches, that lead to trying Sierra Nevada and Anchor when the small local batches were not at hand. Breweries I still revisit today.

By the late 1990's the micro breweries were either collapsing or making the jump into larger distribution breweries ( at least from my perspective ). By this time, Stone, Alesmith, Ballast Point were making their presence known in Los Angeles, where I settled. Good Belgian, German and English imports became widely available. I also remember a Hefenweizens being the favor of the month, which is OK with me, still love the style.

Early 2000's I made my first trip to Mecca, I mean Belgium. Tried a Cantillon Gueze for the first time, as well as, many other local Belgium beers. I still clearly remember my first beer in Belgium. An Orval in an outdoor cafe, my first day in Brussels, poured in appropriate glassware.

The rest of early 2000's where mostly dominated by great San Diego Breweries, hop forward beers, barley wines, and how can one forget their first Speedway.

These days, I lean toward big barrel aged beers. I simply love what a barrel can do to a beer in the right hands. But I also need to admit that I have never met a beer style that I don't like. So I continue to be all over the map on the styles I try.

I suppose the absolute latest trend for me, is that Los Angeles breweries have improved so much in recent year ( LA use to be a beer desert ) that I find myself returning more and more to where I was in the mid-1990's, getting small local batches of great beer.

 

I still love ipas but I've no need to try them all. I have my continual favorites. Now I prefer more subtle styles though like pilsner, blonde, hefeweizen. I drink seasonally though. The colder it gets, the darker my beer gets. I no longer tick. I drink what I like and what catches my eye.